


and if you must tell her, then you better tell her tonight

by justaleapoffaith



Series: after the war is over [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, flint is serving winston bishop vibes here and i love it, the whole team as a family, theyre good wingmen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26476627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justaleapoffaith/pseuds/justaleapoffaith
Summary: “I’m just gonna ask her out for a drink.”“That’s”, he frowned, “that’s it?”Kora frowned back, “Why, what’s wrong with that?”“I just-”, he let out a saddened huff, and “I thought it would be more exciting than that.”“Drinks are a very normal way to ask someone out.”“It was way different in our time.”“What was it like in your time?” Kora asked, intrigued. She’d known Flint was from a doomsday-esque future, 2091, but she was still fuzzy on the details.“Lemons.”Kora blinked. “I’m sorry, what now?”----Or, Kora has a very obvious crush on a certain agent, the team helps her figure it out.
Relationships: Kora (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)/Agent Piper, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons (mentioned), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Series: after the war is over [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001682
Comments: 10
Kudos: 67





	and if you must tell her, then you better tell her tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Second fic!!!!
> 
> I know that this isn't a very popular pairing (you could call it a crackship) but @ellsey's fics dragged me down this ship and now i'm never getting out.  
> (Also Piper and Kora are both wlws (let's be honest no-one in the team is actually straight) no i do not take criticism)
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> ~ Title from Salt by Jordan Mackampa ~

“This is Zephyr-3, requesting permission to land.”

The audio crackled before Mack’s voice filtered in through the comms.

_“You’re clear, Z-3.”_

Kora watched from her position in the pilot’s seat as hangar doors of the Lighthouse opened up below them, resembling a whirlpool before the water pulled away to reveal the familiar dark grey walls of the base and the Quinjets parked in the side. Daisy smiled from the co-pilot’s seat.

“No place like home”, she said out loud, leaning back against the headrest.

Kora pulled down a lever, and she heard Sousa inhale sharply from the seat behind her as they lowered into the hangar. She felt the familiar, rollercoaster-like swoop in her stomach as the Zephyr made contact with solid ground.

They were home.

“Alright”, Daisy announced, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she got up off her seat, moving towards the cargo bay, Kora and Sousa following suit, “I’m gonna go sleep for twelve hours.”

Kora snorted. “You say that like you haven’t gotten any sleep at all. I mean, you overslept today.”

“It’s not the same as sleeping in an _actual_ bed”, Daisy shot her a glare.

“Right.”

They walked out of the Zephyr towards the Lighthouse entrance, which was left open by the other agents who had left before them. The cool breeze from the waterfall around them sent a shiver down her spine. She was feeling a little nervous at the prospect of reuniting with the team, though she was not sure why. Sure, she and the others weren’t the closest of friends, but she got along just fine with them. If she was being honest, she had begun to consider them as her family. Or extended family, in a way. And yet she was feeling nervous.

_Why was she feeling so nervous?_

As they walked inside the base, her eyes fell on the small group huddled just beyond the stairs, and Kora got her answer. Daisy and Sousa were already ahead of her, rushing forward to exchange hugs with the team with big smiles on their faces. Mack and Yoyo and Flint and… _Piper._

Contrary to Flint’s belief ( _and Daisy’s…and Sousa’s, for that matter_ ), Kora did not have a crush on Piper. But she had spent some time with the fellow agent in the year before she had left for space, talking and training and pulling an endless amount of pranks on Davis and, Kora had to admit, she was really cool. Not to mention she had a really cute smile, and she couldn’t help but find the way she scrunched her nose when she laughed incredibly endearing, and-

“Hey, kiddo!”

She was pulled out of her thoughts as Mack walked up to her, grinning widely and pulling her into a hug.

_Get it together, Kora._

She returned his hug with a wide smile of her own. It had taken Kora by surprise at first, how much of a big teddy bear the director had turned out to be. He gave the best hugs out of anyone in the team, and that was a fact.

Flint rushed forward next, engulfing her in a hug as Yoyo gave her an affectionate pat on the back. She had become quick friends with the kid ( _“I’m nineteen!” he would whine_ ) over her short year of training at the base. Being the youngest out of everyone in the team and proud members of the “people out of time” club, they’d gotten along pretty well.

As Flint pulled away to greet the others, she was brought face to face with Piper. Kora stumbled, unsure of whether to hug the other agent too ( _where they there yet?_ ), or to shake her hand ( _too formal?_ ) and decided to just shove her hands into her pockets before she does something awkward and embarrasses herself. 

“Hey”, Piper stepped forward, smiling.

“Heyyyy”, Kora replied, bouncing on her heels. She knew she was probably grinning like an idiot, she didn’t know how to stop if she was.

“How was…space?”

“Space was good, yeah. It was just…great.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

_Why had she suddenly forgotten all the other words in the English language?_

From the corner of her eye she could see Daisy and Sousa watching the awkward exchange with an amused look on their faces. Flint, half-hidden behind them, was trying painfully to hold in a laugh. Even Mack had an eyebrow raised.

_Great._

“Where’s Davis?” Daisy asked, and Kora silently thanked her sister for steering the conversation away from what had showed promise of becoming a very disastrous exchange.

“Charging”, Piper said, rolling her eyes, “Turns out being an LMD did not change the fact that he is the world’s largest sleepyhead.”

“He’s not the only one”, Kora snorted, earning a glare from Daisy.

“Okay”, Mack interjected before either of them could break out into an argument, “you guys must be tired. Why don’t you unpack, get some rest?”

“Meet you in the common area later?” Daisy asked, before taking Sousa’s hand and turning in the direction of their bunk.

“We’ll be there”, Mack nodded, leaving towards the control center, with Yoyo and Piper following him. And then it was just her and Flint.

He turned to her. Kora groaned internally, anticipating his words.

“That was-”

“Don’t”, she shook her head, “just don’t.”

“-really. Subtle”, he grinned.

She began to walk towards the bunks. “I am not having this conversation right now.”

“Someone’s got a crush!” He said with a sing-song voice.

“Flint, I swear to God-”, she stopped in her tracks, turning to face him, but he was walking away.

“Shame, shame, I know your name!” he sang out, leaving with a wink. She sighed, turning back to head towards her bunk.

_This was going to be a difficult couple of months._

* * *

Kora was sitting on edge of her bed, putting on her boots when Daisy walked in, unannounced, plopping down on a nearby chair and watching Kora with a sly smile. Kora turned to her, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, hi?”

“Hi”, her smile was getting wider, a sure sign of trouble.

“You know you could have knocked, right?” she gestured towards the door, “or is that not a thing in the 21st century?”

“Well, it’s not like you were doing anything weird”, she leaned back on the chair, “and I’m the older sister so…I can do what I want.”

Kora rolled her eyes, catching the smirk on her sister’s face. She agreed that Daisy was the older sister one time ( _one time!_ ) and she had already let it get to her head.

“Don’t make me regret agreeing with you.”

“Ha, you can’t take it back”, she leaned forward again, “whatever. That’s not what I came to talk to you about anyway.

She knew where this was going. She feigned ignorance, nevertheless.

“What did you come to talk to me about?”

“You know what”, she was looking at her expectantly. Kora simply shrugged back. “Oh come on, you know what I’m taking about! Your little meet and greet with Piper back there?”

“What about it?”

“Dude, I’ve never seen you blush that much before. I mean, I knew you two had something but-”

“No, Daisy. Come on-”

“-this is like, a full-blown crush!”

“It’s not!” She hoped to God her cheeks weren’t turning red.

“Oh, no, it is. Even Sousa agrees with me.”

“Sousa agrees with you on everything.”

“Not everything.”

“Most things.”

“He…” she paused, “…okay, yeah, he agrees with me on most things. But my point still stands.”

“And what is your point, exactly?” Kora probed, getting impatient.

_First Flint, now Daisy._

“You should ask her out.”

Kora balked, “No, I can’t- I can’t do that.”

“Of course you can”, Daisy watched her sister furiously shake her head, “If you’re worried about the rules or something, that’s not a problem, you know? You’re allowed to date other agents.”

Kora knew that, the whole team was basically just a bunch of couples. That’s not what scared her.

“I know, I just- I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

So she decided to play dumb instead. ( _A stupid idea, that._ )

“Well…I don’t have feelings for her.”

“Kora”, Daisy huffed, rolling her eyes, “come on. We are way past that point.”

“I don’t.”

“Seriously? I can see it, so can Sousa, and Mack, and Yoyo. Flint cannot stop seeing it. Any idiot with a pair of eyes can see that you have a crush on her.”

Kora glared her, and she returned the look with a raised eyebrow. She knew Daisy was right, there was no denying it, no matter how much she wanted to. If she was stubborn, then her sister was ten times worse. There was no way she was ever letting this go.

Kora sighed, “Okay, let’s say that hypothetically, _hypothetically_ ”, she stressed as Daisy began to get excited, “I want to ask her out. How do I know that she, you know…?”

“That she what?”

“Likes girls?”

“I’m pretty sure she does.”

“You _think_ she does, but how do I _know_ she does?”

Daisy sighed, moving to sit on the corner of her bed. “You talk to her.”

“How could this possibly come up naturally in a conversation?”

“Just-”, Daisy shrugged, “I don’t know, just ask her out, and if she says no then you’ll know.”

Kora stared at her sister. “You’re really bad at giving this kind of advice, you know that?”

Daisy scoffed, “I’m not that bad!”

“Yes, you are”, she replied pointedly, “Besides, I don’t even know if I should be taking advice from you. You and Danny started dating like…two weeks after knowing each other.”

“Yeah, and now we’ve been going steady for almost _two years_. Which is exactly why you should be taking my advice.”

Kora paused, smiling slightly. “Going steady? Seriously?”

“Ugh, I know”, Daisy cringed, letting her head fall into her hands, “It sounded better in my brain.”

“You need to get some new words”, she was laughing, “Too much time spent with Danny Boy.”

“That’s-”, she started, looking up again, “that’s not the point. Look, if you have a good feeling about something, or someone, I’d say go for it. And you and Piper, you’ve got to admit, there’s something there. We’re going to be here for a few months anyway, why not explore it?”

Kora sighed, “Yeah, I suppose I could.”

“There we go”, Daisy smiled, getting up, “I’m gonna go ahead to meet the others. You coming?”

“In a minute”, she turned her attention back to her boots, “and Daisy?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell Flint…about anything I said. At least not yet, or he won’t let me live it down.”

“I won’t tell”, she held open the door, “I promise.”

And with that, she slipped out, letting the door shut behind her. Kora worked on getting her boots on, feeling uplifted after the conversation. She could do this, she wanted to do this.

_How hard could it possibly be?_

* * *

Turns out, I could be very hard. Incredibly hard. It had been three days since her conversation with Daisy, three days since she had decided to ask Piper out, and yet, every time she tried to approach Piper about it, she froze. Her awkwardness levels had dialed up so much; she was surprised that the fellow agent had not figured it out already. Daisy’s words of advice kept playing in her head. She had something good with Piper, and she definitely wanted something more.

So why was she hesitating so much?

Stuck in her thoughts, trying to figure out how to approach Piper, Kora didn’t notice as she ran into someone, causing a stack of files to go flying and scatter on the floor.

“Ay dios mío”, Yoyo sighed as she bent down to pick up the files. Kora rushed to help her.

“I’m so sorry. I was just- I didn’t watch where I was going. Sorry”.

“Hey, it’s okay”, Yoyo smiled, getting up and taking the files that Kora held out to her, “Thinking about something?”

“Yeah, just…stuck on this thought.”

Yoyo started walking, and Kora fell into step beside her.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Oh, it’s…I don’t know whether-”, and then the idea hit her, “actually, you and Piper are partners, right?”

“With Davis, yeah.”

“And you…you’ve worked with her before, too. So you could say you know her well enough, yeah?”

“I...could say that. Why?”

“Do you know if she likes girls?”

Yoyo paused, turning to look at her.

“I’m asking for another agent”, she followed hurriedly, nervous under Yoyo’s scrutiny, “She- she wanted to know and she asked me and…yeah.”

There was no way Yoyo could be buying this, and yet she hoped.

“And who is this…other agent?”

_Shit._

“Uh, it’s Agent…Marquez?”

Yoyo raised an eyebrow, “Agent Marquez?”

“Yup. She asked me”, Kora nodded furiously.

There was a slight smile playing on Yoyo’s lips. Kora tried not to worry too much about it.

“Well, uh, tell Agent Marquez that I am not sure who or what Piper’s into-”

Kora’s face fell. “Oh.”

“-but if you were asking, she would probably say yes.”

She let out a relieved smile before Yoyo’s exact words registered into her brain.

“Wait, how did you-”

“Because Marquez is married”, Yoyo grinned as she walked away, “and you are _very_ obvious.”

* * *

Kora slid into the seat that Daisy had abandoned after pushing the laptop towards her. It was her turn to talk to ( _or report to_ , as Daisy had quipped) May for their monthly video calls. Despite the Academy not being too far from the Lighthouse, May had decided to rent an apartment for herself, wanting some peace and quiet now that the team was not stuck in a never-ending cycle of doom. The older agent, from what she could see from the computer screen, had abandoned her usual black and leather outfits for a simple, light green button-up. She looked calmer than Kora had ever seen her, happier. It was a good look.

“How was your mission?”

“It went well, yeah. We managed to create positive relations with at least ten new species so, all in all, a success. We did have a fight in a half-drunken state on this one planet though”, she let out a small laugh, “yeah, that atmosphere was _not_ meant for humans.”

“You went to Kitson? I’m surprised Daisy would let you go there after what happened last time.”

“No, we didn’t-”, Kora frowned, “what’s Kitson? What happened last time?”

May looked like she’d spilled some huge secret. “Never mind, I think you should let Daisy answer that question.”

“Come on, May. You know she’ll just deflect it.”

“Then ask Simmons. Or Piper, she was the only one sober through this whole thing.”

At that, Kora perked up. She hoped May couldn’t feel any emotions across the computer screen; otherwise she was in for it. That was, given that no one else on the team had already told her.

Thankfully, May didn’t seem to notice.

“How about you, have you been focusing on your training?”

“Ye-”, she started to say, but was interrupted by Daisy as she walked by.

“That’s not the only thing she’s been focusing on!”

“Daisy!” she hissed, glaring at her sister, who left with a sly grin.

“What is she talking about?” she heard May ask. She snapped her head back to the computer screen.

“Oh, that, it’s- it’s nothing, just…” she made it worse by trying to deny any insinuations, and she was pretty sure May didn’t need her powers to see what she was feeling.

“Kora?” she pressed.

She sighed, leaning forward on the table and bringing an arm up to rub the back of her neck. “It’s Piper.”

“What about her?”

“I-”, she hesitated, “I’m thinking of asking her out.”

“That’s-” May face broke into a gentle smile, “that’s pretty great.”

“But I have no idea how to.”

“Just ask her out”, May said with a shrug, and suddenly she reminded her so much of Daisy.

“It’s just… I freeze every time I try to do it. It becomes super awkward and then I just leave the room. I- are you laughing right now?”

Sure enough, May’s face had broken out into a grin, a soft chuckle escaping her mouth. “I’m sorry, you just remind me of Coulson right now. He used to always get this nervous.”

Kora shot her a small smile. She knew she and Coulson had history, she had seen it in the time stream. Kora thought that the feelings were still there, though it didn’t seem like they were doing anything about it this time. Even with the LMD version of Coulson there, things weren’t all the same.

“How did you do it? You and Coulson?”

May frowned, “Didn’t you see everything in the time streams?”

Kora shook her head, “Not the good parts. Sybil only showed me what I could use against you.”

“Well, we- we took too long, I’ll tell you that. Longer than we should have”, May was watching some faraway spot away from the camera, a nostalgic look on her face, “We got the time that we did, I’m thankful for that.”

Kora frowned, as bittersweet May and Coulson’s story had been, it didn’t help her with how she should approach Piper. If anything, it just vaguely told her what not to do.

“What about Fitz-Simmons? How did they…you know?”

“Oh, they spent almost ten years before they even considered it”, May laughed softly, “the universe kept pulling them apart even after that. But we knew, all of us did, that no matter what happens, the one fact that will never change is that Fitz and Simmons belong together.”

She heard a door shut behind May, and a familiar voice calling out, “I’m back.”

“May?” she leaned forward.

“Hmm?” for a master spy she was not being subtle, her voice rising as she hummed in response.

Kora tried to speak as softly as she could, but her excitement betrayed her, “Is that Coulson?”

May blushed slightly, “Maybe.”

“Oh my God”, she whispered loudly this time. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself. After all this time, everything that May said…they were sneaking around like teenagers. It was adorable. And of course, it made more sense than anything, regardless of what version of themselves they were, LMD or not, it had always been May and Coulson. They were meant to be together.

And maybe that was what scared her.

She had made the worst decision of her life with Nathaniel. Choosing to be with him, regardless of how short that time had been, look at all the damage she had done then. Piper was so much better than Nathaniel could ever dream of being and yet, Kora was scared that maybe this time, she was the one who would mess it up. In a more innocent way, she supposed, ruin whatever friendship they had by hoping for something more, be too cursed to have something with someone simply so… _good._

And as if May could sense her apprehension, “What is it?”

“I just- you all just seem like-”

“Like what?”

“Soulmates. You found your perfect halves – you and Coulson, Daisy and Sousa, Mack and Elena, Fitz-Simmons. You guys found _the one_. And I- my past relationship just made me the worst version of myself. What if- what if I’m searching for something I shouldn’t have, what someone else doesn’t deserve.”

“Kora”, May sighed, “You can’t change your past, and yeah, you did some bad stuff, but you’re becoming better. Owning up to it and trying to do good, that’s the best anyone one can do, really. And look, we all have our fair share of drastic relationships. Don’t take it as a curse; take it as…an improvement.

“And the whole soulmates thing, no-one’s made as someone’s perfect pair. You’ve got to understand that. You find someone and you have a connection, and then whether or not you’re the “perfect half” is up to where you decide to go with it. If you feel like this thing with Piper is something you want, I’d say go for it before it’s too late. Trust me, I speak from experience. ”

Kora looked away, letting the words sink in.

“Thank you, May”, she smiled at the older agent and, in an attempt to lighten the mood, “You planning on telling your kids, yet?”

“Tell them about what?” _She didn’t question the kids part_ , Kora smiled to herself.

“Coulson.”

“I’d rather not tell them yet, or they won’t stop with the teasing”, May replied with a smile, “I trust you to keep this information to yourself, Agent.”

“Oh don’t worry, Professor May”, she winked, grinning as May rolled her eyes, “your secret’s safe with me.”

* * *

Piper had left for a mission along with Yoyo and Davis, and wasn’t to return for a week. Meanwhile Kora had been waiting with what could only be described as some form of nervous energy, having decided to _(definitely, for sure, no going back)_ ask her out once she returned. Besides she didn’t trust how long Yoyo could hold in the information of her asking about Piper. And if they were together for a _week_? Kora had to assume worst-case scenario would be that the cat’s already out of the bag.

She had a simple plan – wait for a while after Piper returns, and then ask her out for a drink. There was a small bar not far from the lighthouse, and if Piper seemed averse to the idea of going on a date, she could always imply that it was just friends getting a drink. _Simple enough, right?_

She was broken from her thoughts by a hand frantically waving in front of her face.

“What?” she snapped back into focus and Flint lowered his hand.

He frowned, “Have you been listening to anything I’ve said till now?”

She struggled to remember his words, but in all honesty she had zoned out a while back.

“Were we…talking about your next mission?”

Flint sighed, “Dinner.”

She definitely didn’t remember that.

“What about dinner?”

“Mack said we could get tacos. You want in?”

“Dude, do you ever not eat tacos?” she asked, shaking her head.

“I’m taking that as a no, then.”

“No, of course I want some.”

“Then quit judging me.”

“I’m just saying, it would be good if you had something else every once in a while.”

“I do!” he replied indignantly, “And besides, you’ve gotta stop babysitting me, I’m an agent now.” He flashed a smug smile. It was true; he had received his badge last week – Level One status.

“Oh please”, Kora rolled her eyes, “you can’t go anywhere without a supervisor present.”

“Neither can you!”

“I’m not the one bragging about it!”

Sousa popped his head through the door just then, cutting their argument short. “Quick update: STRIKE team’s returning tonight.”

“I thought they weren’t due for a week”, Flint questioned.

“The drop-off took place earlier than the decided time; it went faster than they thought it would. I’m not too sure on the details.”

Kora inhaled sharply. She thought she had another week, had taken comfort in that fact, really. But if Piper was returning tonight-

“You okay?” Sousa asked, fully stepping into the room.

Kora looked a bit too stunned. In the distance she heard Flint excitedly whisper, “More tacos!”

“I’m fine.”

“O-okay”, Sousa replied, unconvinced, “I’m gonna go, I’ll be in the control room if you need me.”

Flint turned to look at her funnily as Sousa left. “So…”

“Hmm?”

“Piper’s coming back tonight.”

“Yeah.”

“You plan on talking to her? Maybe saying something…” he looked at her with both eyebrows raised, and Kora began to piece together what he was implying. He didn’t know, did he?

_Did he?_

Kora groaned, “Did Daisy tell you? I told her no-”

“Wait, what? No. Daisy didn’t tell me anything”, confusion took over his face, “Why? What did you tell her?”

_She really dug herself into a hole here, huh._

“It’s...it’s nothing.”

“Tell me”, he began to get excited, continuously tapping his finger on the table and staring at her expectantly. She looked at him for a beat, and then sighed.

_What the hell._

“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to get too excited.”

“I promise.” _Liar._

Kora took a deep breath, “Okay, so…I’m gonna ask her out.”

“Who?”

“Piper!”

“Oh”, she gave him a minute to let it click, “ _oh_!”

“Yeah.”

He was grinning widely, “How are you gonna do it?”

“I’m just gonna ask her out for a drink.”

“That’s”, he frowned, “that’s it?”

Kora frowned back, “Why, what’s wrong with that?”

“I just-”, he let out a saddened huff, and “I thought it would be more exciting than that.”

“Drinks are a very normal way to ask someone out.”

“It was way different in our time.”

“What was it like in your time?” Kora asked, intrigued. She’d known Flint was from a doomsday-esque future, 2091, but she was still fuzzy on the details.

“Lemons.”

Kora blinked. “I’m sorry, what now?”

“Lemons”, he stated matter-of-factly, “That was the only actual crop we could buy back then, crazy expensive. We would save up money and, if you liked someone, you would buy and leave a lemon on their bunk. To tell them you liked them. You don’t do that now?”

She looked at him, surprised. Lemons? That sounded ridiculous. But that might explain all the lemon-themed memorabilia Deke had left behind at the Lighthouse.

“I’m pretty sure we don’t.”

“Huh”, he took a minute, lost in thought. Kora felt a twinge of sadness, no matter how much better this world might have been than his, he must still miss the family and friends that he left behind. She’s been much luckier, she figured, being the only one out of time who didn’t have so much to leave behind.

Flint broke out of his reverie, turning back to her, “So, you’re doing this tonight?”

“Yeah, I guess I am”, she smiled back, beginning to feel a little excited.

“You’ll do great”, he flashed her a smile, getting up, “Don’t freeze.”

“Gee thanks”, she retorted, watching him leave, “Wait, where are you going?”

“They’re going to be back in some time”, he shrugged, slipping out the door, “I’m gonna go get the tacos.”

Kora shook her head, laughing fondly.

_She was really doing this. Tonight. Easy-peasy, right?_

_She won’t freeze._

* * *

She froze.

The three had returned in time for dinner, and the whole team had assembled in the common room, eating and drinking and talking. She had pulled Piper aside after dinner to “talk to her about something important”, but when she actually had to pop the question, she panicked and told her that Davis had been the one who broke the coffee machine ( _which was true, it just wasn’t what she had wanted to say_ ).

So now she sat in the cockpit of Z-3, staring out into the empty hangar, hiding like a coward.

“You know this bird’s not going to flying for a few months, right?” Mack’s voice cut through the gentle hum of the ship. She turned to watch him as he moved forward to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.

“Well that’s too bad, was hoping to use it to get my grocery shopping done”, she cracked a smile as the Director chuckled, “It’s so much faster than a car.”

“The others were asking around about you…you just disappeared”, his voice was laced with worry.

“I just needed some air.”

“So…the cockpit of non-flying ship in an underground hangar. Smart.”

She let out a huff as she leaned back into her seat, “I had to ask someone something, which I had been meaning to do for a while, really. And I panicked.”

“Is this about Piper?” She could feel Mack’s eyes on her. She didn’t even bother to hide it now; he would have figured it out anyway. He’s perceptive like that.

“How did you know?”

“Flint has been staring at the two of you weirdly all night.” _Of course._

Kora sighed, “I was- I wanted to ask her out - stop smiling - and I got scared and told her that Davis broke the coffee machine instead.”

“Is that what they’ve been arguing about all night?” Mack frowned.

“Yeah. I don’t even understand it, by the way. How does he need coffee? He’s a damn robot.”

Mack shook his head, sighing. “I stopped trying to understand all of it a while ago, makes my life a heck of a lot easier.”

“That’s not a bad tactic”, Kora agreed. They slipped into a comfortable silence, accompanied by the hum of the ship and the crash of the waves above them. At some point, Mack turned to look at her; she could feel his eyes on her face.

“You can’t keep avoiding it forever, you know?”

“I know”, she sighed, “If this doesn’t fall through, I think I might have to take Flint’s advice.”

“Which was what?”

“Lemons.”

“Oh”, he cringed, “Yeah, no, don’t do that.”

She turned in her seat to look at him. “Why? You’ve done it before?”

“God, no. But uh…Deke did, and it did not go well. Honestly, we all just played along for the joke.”

“Noted.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

“Please don’t.”

“What?” Mack laughed softly, “It’s worked before.”

“You’ve done it exactly once before, and barely. You told Sousa to “go get her” and threatened him in the same conversation, poor guy probably got more confused.”

“But he didn’t though.”

“Beginner’s luck?”

“Do you truly think so little of my skills?” he attempted to reply in mock hurt, but he was laughing. She chuckled lightly, shaking her head.

“I think I need to do this on my own.”

* * *

“You’re twenty minutes late! Where have you been?”

She was in one of the Lighthouse’s larger storage rooms doing inventory when Flint, who was supposed to have been helping her, slipped into the room.

“Mack needed me. Speaking of, I still have to go help him.”

“But you promised you’d help me with this. I can’t get all this done by myself.”

“Don’t worry, I arranged for help. I think you’ll be happy with my choice.” Flint was grinning.

“Who-”

“Hey”, Piper called out, stepping into the room from behind Flint.

_That little shit._

“Hey”, Kora greeted back with a nervous smile.

“I’ll leave you both to it”, Flint began to leave, a smug look taking over his face.

_You can do this_ , he mouthed at her once he was behind Piper’s line of sight, flashing a much exaggerated thumbs-up.

Piper walked up beside her, picking up one of the files placed on the table in front of her, before turning to fully look at Kora. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She was not fine, she was suddenly very aware of how close they were standing, of how Piper’s arm brushed against her own as she shifted. They were barely a foot apart. Kora took a step back.

“Because it kinda feels like you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I- I’ve not been avoiding you”, she frowned, “What makes you think I’ve been avoiding you?”

“Because whenever we talk you just sort of…fumble and leave immediately”, Piper stated matter-of-factly, “And last night? You just left, without saying anything.”

“I just wanted to get some air.”

Piper just stared at her, unconvinced. She moved to the opposite side of the table, and almost immediately Kora began to miss the warmth of having her at her side. She hesitated, searching for a way to change the conversation.

“How did it go with Davis?”

At that, Piper cracked a smile. “It took a while, but he cracked. They all do, eventually. You know, when you said you wanted to talk about something important…that was not what I expected-”

_So she was expecting something else._

“-don’t get me wrong, that was also very important. Just…thought you were maybe going to ask something else.”

“What did you think I was going to ask?” Kora pressed, leaning forward with her hands on the table. Her intrigue took over her nervousness, and she let it.

“Oh, it’s- it’s nothing”, Piper ducked her head, smiling.

_Was she blushing?_

Kora went over what Yoyo had told her _\- if you were asking, she would probably say yes_. This was her chance. Piper had expected her to ask something, maybe this was it. She had to take that leap of faith.

“I actually did want to ask you something”, she locked eyes with Piper.

“Yeah?”

“I- um…” she ducked her head, staring at her sneakers instead. She couldn’t fumble now. “I wanted to ask if you wanted to go for a drink…sometime.”

It was Piper’s turn to look startled, but if Kora wasn’t imagining it ( _she hoped to God she wasn’t_ ), there was a small smile beginning to form on her lips.

“With the team?”

“Just us.”

“Oh.”

At any other time, Kora might have been disheartened by that response, but grin on Piper’s face let her know otherwise. She took it as a sign to go further. “As a date…if you’d like that?”

Piper let out a soft laugh, nodding. “I’d like that very much, yes.”

And it took all of Kora’s energy not to do a fist pump at that very moment. She chose to return Piper’s smile instead, feeling elated.

“Is seven good?”

“Seven’s perfect.”

* * *

“Are you sure this isn’t weird?” Flint asked, pulling his ear away from door of the storage room. “Us listening in?”

“Well, did it work?”

“Yeah”, Flint shot him a thumbs-up, “They’re going out.”

“Finally”, Davis sighed, straightening up from where he was leaning on the wall, “I’m telling you, if I had to watch those idiots pine after each other for one more minute I’d-”

“Break another coffee machine?”

Davis stuck his tongue out at him, moving to walk towards the exit. “Come on, let’s leave the lovebirds alone.”

Flint fell into step beside him as they walked away from the oblivious pair.

“Seriously, how do you break an entire machine?”

“Shut up, pebble-boy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Give me a shout on tumblr (@justaleapoffaith) :)


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